Fred Lorenzen constructed a go-kart with a lawnmower motor when he was twelve years old, and he raced around Elmhurst’s streets at up to thirty miles per hour until the police apprehended him. The police would tell him, “You can’t be driving around here; you’re going to get hit.” The child replied by attaching a bright flag on the end of a rod and mounting it on his go-kart. “He continued to enjoy himself while the police pursued him,” said Amanda Lorenzen Gardstrom, Mr. Lorenzen’s daughter. In the end, the police took the small speedster away. According to his son Chris Lorenzen, “he started winning demolition derbies at Soldier Field when he was 15 years old, after purchasing a car for $200 and pouring cement in the doors and trunk.”
In 1956, he raced his first race at the age of 22, making him one of the few Midwestern drivers on the NASCAR circuit. Due to a malfunctioning fuel pump, he finished 26th. He cut his teeth for a few years before he started to win. Because he was attractive, he gained more recognition as word got out. Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, Fearless Freddy, and The Elmhurst Express were some of his monikers. After winning six races in 1963, he became the first driver in NASCAR history to earn $100,000 in a single season. He amassed a career total of 26 victories between 1961 and 1967, including a checkered flag at the Daytona 500 in 1965. “My heroes were the fans, who are what push you to run.”
In a 2009 interview with TNT, Lorenzen stated, “They make you go fast.” “It fulfilled a dream.” You are unable to adequately convey the amount of effort you have done throughout your life. Despite retiring in 1967, he was unable to stay away. In 1970, he came back to race for three more years. After battling dementia for almost ten years, Mr. Lorenzen passed away on December 18 at an Oak Brook assisted living facility. He was eighty-nine. One of NASCAR’s first real superstars was Fred Lorenzen. In an obituary posted on the race organization’s website, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France remarked, “A fan favorite, he helped NASCAR expand from its original roots.”
According to the obituary, Lorenzen immediately gained the respect of his more accomplished stock-car racing rivals, despite the fact that some saw him as an outsider due to his northern heritage. Thinking NASCAR would never accept his invitation to return as a guest of honor at the 50th anniversary of the Daytona 500 in 2008, Mr. Lorenzen stated that he would require a private aircraft to go to and from the event. According to his daughter, “they sent the jet.” “He was the sport’s first superstar, aside from Richard Petty,” the late Jim Hunter, a former reporter who covered Lorenzen and NASCAR’s vice president of communication, told the Sun-Times in 2007.
“He was the Jeff Gordon of his time.” “He was attractive, unmarried, blonde, adored by women, and a fantastic driver.” He was a well-groomed, patriotic man. Hunter stated, “He was from Chicago, and he’s competing against southern legends like Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Curtis Turner, and Fireball Roberts.” “He’s also outperforming them.” In 2015, Mr. Lorenzen, a modest perfectionist who preferred a “early to bed, early to the track” philosophy over partying, was admitted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. According to Winston Kelley, executive director of the Hall of Fame, “some athletes like the recognition, but there are others like Fred, who are very courteous but didn’t need or seek accolades and that’s just how Fred was.”
Mr. Lorenzen became a real estate agent and resided in Oak Brook after racing. Additionally, despite the fact that he consistently drove fancy cars with license plates that read FL28 (his initials and racing car number), his daughter laughed and described him as “a painfully slow driver.” His kids didn’t really care about his trophy room, and they found it a little odd that fans would occasionally see their dad while he worked in the front yard and be invited inside to look at his collectibles. According to his daughter, who also mentioned that she once shattered her father’s Daytona 500 trophy while playing in his trophy room and he didn’t get upset, “The Midwest is not big NASCAR land.”
He was a wonderful father who went fishing, ice skating, and go-karting constantly. Everyone was welcome at our house, just like they were his children,” she remarked. His son said, “The sky’s the limit,” which he used to inspire everyone. Frederick Sr., an engineer, and Dorothy Kasmark, a professional ballerina, were the parents of Mr. Lorenzen, who was born in Elmhurst on December 30, 1934. Surviving multiple severe auto accidents, Mr. Lorenzen gave his brain to Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation, pioneers in the study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive brain disorder that medical professionals believe is brought on by repetitive head trauma. Mr. Lorenzen is survived by two grandchildren in addition to his son and daughter.
SERVICES HAVE BEEN HELD
